The philosophy of minimalism is being embraced by people everywhere. It’s appealing to consider simplifying your life by getting rid of unnecessary possessions and concentrating instead on the experiences that bring fulfillment and create memories. Except, for many, the actual process of lessening their load can be daunting, especially if you’ve accumulated years of stuff all in one place. Let’s make things more manageable and take a look at some specific ideas for how to handle the decluttering overwhelm.

What Is Your Why?

In multi-level marketing, the phrase, “Know your why,” is used as a motivator to remind people of the reasons they went into business for themselves in the first place. The same concept is essential for keeping you on-task when the decluttering process becomes difficult. Understanding your reasons for wanting to live a minimalist lifestyle is crucial to your success.

Set Aside Enough Time

The first step to getting a handle on your feelings about decluttering is to understand that you don’t have to accomplish this massive task overnight. Set aside blocks of time for the project, knowing that your timeline can be slightly flexible, if necessary. Having a time frame provides structure, but allowing wiggle room takes away the pressure.

Have a Plan

Having a plan is essential to the smooth completion of any goal you hope to accomplish. It only makes sense that mapping out your steps to decluttering would also be beneficial. Write down things like the order you wish to tackle your clutter, how many rooms or areas you would like to complete each week, the manner in which you want to sell valuable items and where you will donate the rest. This proactive step can go a long way toward making it all seem more manageable.

Visualize Your Ideal Living Space

One more thing to do before actually getting down to the business of decluttering is to form an idea in your head of how you’d like your finished space to look. It may even help to jot down some drawings and notes. Doing so will help you decide what to keep and what to discard because you will have a better idea of whether a particular item will complement your vision of a Zen living space.

Know that the hardest part is often actually getting started. Now that you have some concrete ways to manage the overwhelm of decluttering, hopefully, you’re feeling energized to begin, if you haven’t already.

When it comes to getting organized, one of the key elements must be decluttering. Yet, the very idea of getting rid of their possessions comes as an offense to the hearts of many. As with any other process, it often helps to have some rules in place. Consider these six rules of decluttering to help you take steps toward living your life, clutter free.

Bring Less Home

The most important rule to set before you even begin to purge items is to make a sincere effort to bring less stuff in. There’s no point in putting forth the effort to declutter if you undo all your progress by acquiring more stuff. Setting a mindset to shop with intention is the first step to clearing out the clutter for good.

Document Your Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a powerful emotion that can lead us to hold onto clutter. An effective compromise is to digitize your prized possessions if possible. You can scan the images of things like certificates or kids’ artwork into your computer and organize them into folders. For three-dimensional pieces like trophies or prom dresses, take a photo of the item to add to your digital keepsakes. If you can’t bear to part with certain possessions, limit them to 10 or less physical keepsakes and create a permanent home for them.

Keep It Small and Simple At First

One way to gain momentum in the paring down process is to start with the easy things. Begin boxing up items that don’t hold much emotional attachment. Doing so will lead to a sense of accomplishment and provide motivation for you to keep going when the decision-making becomes harder.

One Is Enough

Another relatively easy decluttering task involves getting rid of unnecessary duplicate items. Take a moment to go through your home and gather up all your duplicate articles of clothing, dish sets and books. Then sort through them, keeping only your favorite colored piece or the one that is in the best condition.

Ditch the Guilt

An empowering decluttering strategy is to get rid of things you’ve been holding onto out of guilt. It doesn’t matter how much you paid for that stylish coat if it’s not being used. Unwanted gifts are also something you should part ways with immediately. These things are yours. The decision of whether to keep them is also yours.

Everything In It’s Place

Another way to organize your home is to make sure all your possessions have a designated place and to always return them there. Knowing where everything belongs makes it easier to keep it all tidy and lowers the chance of clutter becoming a recurring problem.

These rules aren’t the definitive last word on clearing out the clutter, and they won’t remove all of the difficulties from the process. Hopefully, though, they will serve as guidelines to help you begin your own decluttering journey.

Most of us aren’t experts when it comes to decluttering and organizing our homes. Unfortunately, it’s common to get about halfway or even completely through the job, only to discover we’ve gone about things in a poorly devised manner. Perhaps you discover the process is taking much longer than you thought, and you end up with things strewn about the room for weeks because you simply don’t have the time to get back to the job. That’s just one common example of why so many of us avoid this stressful process. However, knowing what not to do when deciding to declutter can help to ensure you don’t end up with such frustration.

Don’t Overdo It

As already mentioned, it’s unwise to get overzealous. Thinking you will sort through an entire houseful of possessions in one day is unrealistic. Doing this may even cause you enough frustration to give up on the project entirely. Avoid burnout by setting aside a smaller time frame to complete one room or area.

Don’t Organize Before Purging

Part of the process of decluttering your home is organizing everything in a neat and tidy way. That’s great, but first you need to purge your home of all those things that are just taking up space. Often times, people want to skip to the fun part. So they go out and buy a bunch of pretty containers, bins and storage boxes for organizing all their stuff. This strategy is usually a waste of money and time because it’s impossible to understand your storage needs until you’re able to assess your remaining possessions after the purging process.

Don’t Do Only Half the Job

A big mistake made by many is setting items for the church rummage sale or for thrift store donation aside to be delivered another day. You may think it makes sense to leave that bag of sweaters intended for Aunt Pam sitting in your closet until you see her next. In reality, all of these things simply leave your decluttering project looking unfinished. Take the extra effort to remove all unwanted items from your home immediately.

Don’t Reward Yourself with More Stuff

Finally, no matter how much you may be tempted, never go out and reward yourself for all of your hard decluttering work by purchasing a new item. This mistake simply continues the cycle of the bad habits that led to your clutter problem in the first place. An exception to this rule may be the decision to buy a new armoire or other piece of storage furniture to replace one you just gave away, as this move doesn’t add clutter. It improves aesthetics.

Avoid these common decluttering mistakes, and you’ll be well on your way to an organized, comfortable space. Reward yourself with a nice cup of tea or coffee while enjoying your beautiful surroundings.

There’s a reason why many people start on a decluttering project during a stressful or turbulent time in their lives or when they begin to feel overwhelmed by the chaos. Clearing out the clutter does more than just make your home look neater or more spacious. Decluttering can actually be a life-transforming process in a multitude of ways. Continue reading if you’d like to discover some tangible ways decluttering can improve your life. This knowledge may just be the motivation you’ve long needed to start on your own path to minimalism.

You Will Save Time

Think of all the time you waste searching for things in your cluttered environment. Consider how often you don’t feel like doing much or going anywhere because your cluttered surroundings have left you feeling depressed and overwhelmed. It may also make you feel guilty for doing other things that you want and enjoy doing because you feel like you need to stay home and get started cleaning up the mess. You may even get started doing a few things but you quickly become discouraged and quit, in turn, making you feel like you have accomplished nothing. So scheduling and investing the time to clean out and organize your living space intentionally will pay off in all the hours of your life you get back.

You Will Gain An Increase In Focus

A cluttered environment inevitably leads to a disorganized mind. Being surrounded by clutter makes it hard to concentrate and drains your energy. You can’t focus with distractions and brain fog. An organized space can truly rejuvenate you.

You’ll Sleep Better

By clearing the clutter, you are making more room for energy to flow freely about your bedroom. It’s true that human beings are made up of energy. Being surrounded by energy that can circulate without obstacles allows for deeper and more restful sleep. Think Zen!

You’ll Make Room for Personal Growth

By removing physical items from your home, you’ll be making more space to move around. Some creative reorganization or consolidation of your possessions could lead to having an entire room free to put to a new use. For example, you could create a dedicated space to start a hobby you’ve always wanted to pursue or set up the space as a bedroom for guests or contribute to society by hosting a foster child.

You Will Generate CASH!

Surely, you have some possessions lying around that would be of value to someone else. Remember, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Why not gather them up and consider listing them on Craigslist, LetGo, or eBay? The money you make from any sales can go toward your new hobby, guest room, investments, or into your savings account!

As you can see, there’s so much more to decluttering than you ever realized. This process can lead to countless positive outcomes if you just open your mind to the possibilities. Hopefully, you’re feeling more motivated to start creating your optimal space of Zen.